What decade are you stuck in?

I have cameras from 1928, Graflex Model D, to 1953, Pacemaker Speed Graphic, to 2003, Nikon N75 and many in between. My photography is black & white and color negative and is based in composition and visual perception.

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1940 through 1982 for film cameras.

2017 for iPhone camera.

 

I must say for me it's the late 70's and early 80's. I am a 35mm guy and I love 35mm SLR of that time like the Nikon F2, F3, FM/FE series. The Pentax KX, MX, LX. The Olympus OM1,2,3 and 4. Even the Olympus XA and the Hasselblad 2000FC.

 

IDK i span from the 1850s to about 2015
but my aesthetic spans from around 1930

 

My hardware has ranged from the 1930s folders to 2016 digitals, so no preference of "decades" there. But in photography and photographers, I have a penchant for the 70s era when color was becoming acceptable in fine art photography. And, I somewhat collect "70s era color snapshots" taken by people with their Instamatics and other lo-fi cameras.

 

Perhaps with cars, cameras, ham radios, etc., we like those of the era in which we first became interested.

For cameras, those of the 1970's have the most appeal to me - they seem to have the right blend of technologies in them. However, I do have film cameras ranging from 1934 to 2003.

 

I live in the present. The best way to remain young. I am always in wonder about APUG contributors who seem to give up the ghost at 65 or 70.
I prefer all manual cameras although I own several auto cameras (and have owned some automatic cameras that conked out and were irreparable) Contax T3 and Nikkormats. I enjoy the solid feel of the equipment, the complete photographic process from beginning to end, and the click. I do use digital capture, both still and video for certain projects but have unfortunately experienced the too brief lifespan of digital storage, so I prefer using film. Someone can pick up and look at a negative and recognize what is represented. Not the case with a CD, DVD, external or thumb drive, and will any of them be around in a decade or two.
I have no desire to return to my Donald Duck 127 camera or my C3.

 

There are seasons in life. Growing, learning, acquiring, making a mark, self reflection, tidying up loose ends and more. America, in particular, values only youth, because youth are the economic prize for consumption. So, in the culture, there is a vast distortion that only youth has value. And, one can "stay young" with all it's implications both positive and negative, or one can appreciate the values found in the stages of life beyond youth. Everyone can choose. I don't want to be 18 again, or even 35. I have massively enjoyed the stages beyond youth. There's no right or wrong way to spend the time while waiting to die. Mick Jagger is still pretending to be 18 years old. Lordy, I'd hate to have to put on that act!

 

Most of my film equipment is from the 70's and 80's, but I try to take modern 21st century photographs. I tend not to take food pictures with film, however. I mostly shoot classic grain B&W with occasional Velvia, but make no effort to adapt the photographic styles of the era. The images I create with my film cameras are taken with the same intent as when I use my dSLR. Even when shooting digital, I try to carefully compose each shot (although when taking group photographs, I tend to take 3-5 when digital in the hopes that in at least one image, everybody's eyes are open.)

 

I don't quite understand what you say. Everyone lives in the present. You prefer all manual cameras does that fact has any relation to living in the present? Who are you talking about APUG members who give up to the ghost?

 

Call me shallow, but I seem to be stuck— camera wise— in the ‘50’s- ‘60’s. Maybe because I am a machine guy, and I feel like it was a peak of analog machine camera design/manufacture. Solid tools of steel and brass that with proper maintenance will last another lifetime. I have and use later models, but they aren’t my favorites (with the exception of my OM1, which I got when an M2 was out of the question financially). I get a kick out of being able to have and use the wonderful machines I dreamed of when I was learning about photography in my teens. They photograph modern subjects just fine.
When my wife complains I tell her she is lucky I am not into classic cars. That is a much more expensive hobby and takes up much more space!

 

I'm still using family FED-2 made in sixties, for fun. And Zorki made in fifties.
For personal projects Leica M cameras. They are still made. My digital M is just as my film M.
I like Europe before EU, Canada before Trudeau and USA is still OK. Not only politics, but how it was. With all kind of manufacturing still in country.
Some countries where I never been seems to get better (after getting manufacturing and jobs from America and Europe) and still having some street life. It is gone where I'm now and where I came from it is also diminishing.
I think, socially, I miss times before mobile phones and internet. I would spend more time on photography, walking, museums, visiting family, friends and else instead of sitting on forums.

 

It is all within your control what you do with your time.

 

Any but the one I'm in.

 

I am a child of the film decade.

That means I love shooting my Brownie from 1904 alongside my Leica M-A bought a couple of years ago, and a whole lot of others in between.

My daily carry cameras lately have been my Agfa Jsolette and my Leica III, both from the mid-30s. I am not real sure that has anything to do with a preference for that decade or whether It has more to do with the fact that both cameras are very light and portable, use films that are currently available, and produce wonderful photographs when I do my part. Of course there is also my Wanderlust Travelwide, a Kickstarter 4x5 camera that is about as close to being point and shoot as you can get in 4x5. Then there is also my Intrepid 4x5, another kickstarter large format camera...ahh you get the idea.

I think this just means that I am fond of simple, light and portable film cameras, whether they are still made today or went out of production a hundred years ago.

As for the decade I am in, I think it is the same one you are in. Don't quote me on that though. After all I am over 60 and allegedly "giving up the ghost."

 

For me, it´s the Sixties definitely. This decade clearly marked the apex of mechanical (medium format) cameras before everything went electronic. I also like the style of photography, David Bailey for example, Lord Snowdon, Richard Avedon or the late work of John French, just to name a few.

 

I feel that I am still 18 but wiser. I disguise my self as an older person so I don’t have to act out being as if a contemporary 18. Never thought of learning as being a period of time, a season, that begins and then ends. I have a miscellaneous stack of books, some technical, some classics, some contemporary...the stack keeps growing...so much more to learn. When the end of my winter arrives it will be too soon because there are still a lot of things I want to do. My mom died 3 days before reaching 100 and still had a list of new things she wanted to do and learn about. One of my best friends was organizing and publishing his photo books well into his nineties. Jacques Barzun, former provost of my university, wrote his important tome From Dawn to Decadence while in his nineties. I’ll let my estate tidy up the loose ends.

 

I'm stuck in any era that has purely mechanical cameras, because they're the ones that will last the longest, so up to the 70's really.

 

How do I tell?

 

The 1970's and 1980.s.

 

1965 - 1975, but the peak was 1969 to 1971.

 

Hmmmm.

The other day I was down in the darkroom printing some shots taken with a 1951 vintage Rolleiflex and picked up a coupla copies of Popular Photography printed during WWII.

Browsing through the ads I realized that the stuff they were selling was, pretty much, what I was using -- although my stuff was slightly updated. Still, that era's dream equipment, and my current equipment, match more than they don't.

Sort of made me feel like a museum exhibit, but not in a bad way.

 

1980 with my AE1P and 2017 with my T6i

 

My cameras range from the 1930s to the 2000s (Holga) but the vast majority are from the 1950s-70s. I prefer shooting black and white film, and sometimes slides, so I guess that time period is correct for me.